Techmeme
November 18, 2023, 1:50 PM

Top News

OpenAI:
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman departs the company and leaves its board after a board review found he wasn't “consistently candid in his communications with the board”  —  The board of directors of OpenAI, Inc, the 501(c)(3) that acts as the overall governing body for all OpenAI activities …
More: The Guardian, New York Times, BBC, Ars Technica, Slate, Security Affairs, TechCrunch, Politico, VentureBeat, Business Insider, The Verge, The Algorithmic Bridge, Axios, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Wired, CNBC, CoinDesk, TechCrunch, The Information, Daring Fireball, Android Headlines, CNN, IGN, iPhone in Canada Blog, Associated Press, Newser, The Hill, Financial Times, VentureBeat, Axios, Reuters, TechCircle, Computerworld, NewsBTC, WinBuzzer, CryptoPotato, Bitcoinist.com, Analytics India Magazine, CoinGape, The Crypto Basic, DL News, BBC, Bankless Times, Financial Times, Metaverse Post, Cryptonews, Forbes, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Fast Company, Telegraph, HackerNoon, Business Insider, SiliconANGLE, The Decoder, OpenAI Developer Forum, Associated Press, Wccftech, Mashable, iClarified, Constellation Research, Deadline, Australian Financial Review, Reuters, Forbes, Forbes, The Messenger, Variety, NBC News, San Francisco Business Times, Decrypt, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Information
X: @sama, @sama, @ericnewcomer, @sama, @openai, @smylkshmn, @dzhng, @karaswisher, @pitdesi, @jjluff, @jessicalessin, @markgurman, @ericschmidt, @alecmuffett, @gruber, @loganbartlett, @suhail, @eladgil, @nikitabier, @hellokillian, @ylecun, @iampaulgrewal, @mikebutcher, @kantrowitz, @trungtphan, @palmerluckey, @scobleizer, @hardmaru, @nikillinit, @krishnanrohit, @goodalexander, @tunguz, @karaswisher, @smtuffy, @garybasin, @nikillinit, @andercot, @bchesky, @blader, @reedalbergotti, @esyudkowsky, @eladgil, @rishab_hegde, @austen, @chrisjbakke, @ashleevance, @anothercohen, @emostaque, @chrisjbakke, @danprimack, @patrickjblum, @tobi, @jaltma, @romeensheth, @woj_zaremba, @tszzl, @gergelyorosz, @johncoogan, @lachygroom, @benparr, @warobusiness, @gergelyorosz, @garymarcus, @charlesarthur, @alifarhat79, @mattparlmer, @garymarcus, @convexdegen, @anothercohen, @ashleevance, @ericnewcomer, @nope_its_lily, @parkerconrad, @e0m, @andrewyng, @danprimack, @mlevchin, @saranormous, @bchesky, @var_epsilon, @muppettrading, @palmerluckey, @migueldeicaza, @nickbilton, @geoffreywoo, @byrnehobart, @esyudkowsky, @blader, @ericnewcomer, @cokedupoptions, @whengoodenough, @karaswisher, @mattturck, @car0linehaskins, @gdb, @suhail, @rafat, @deepfates, @quinnypig, @zsk, @ericnewcomer, @munster_gene, @ericjackson, @scobleizer, @jacqmelinek, @mikedemarais, @localghost, @eghosao, @ericnewcomer, @___frye, @munster_gene, @bentossell, @autismcapital, @danprimack, @tedchris, @hsakatrades, @gregisenberg, @adamscochran, @alexrkonrad, @fmanjoo, @pitdesi, @thestalwart, @counternotions, @alexrkonrad, @iamdcinvestor, @matthew_d_green, @mezaoptimizer, @shiringhaffary, @zck, @stshank, @loganbartlett, @dee_bosa, @zck, and @ericnewcomer
LinkedIn: Aki Ranin and Kelvin Mu
Jay Peters / The Verge:
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati becomes the company's interim CEO  —  “Mr. Altman's departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities," the company said in its blog post.
Axios:
OpenAI memo: Altman's firing was not due to “malfeasance” or related to financial, business, safety, or security practices but a “breakdown in communication”  —  Team - after yesterday's announcement, which took us all by surprise, we have had multiple conversations …
Forbes:
Greg Brockman / @gdb:
Greg Brockman describes Ilya Sutskever's role in Sam Altman's firing and Brockman's removal from the OpenAI board, as well as Mira Murati's foreknowledge  —  Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today. Let us first say thank you to all the incredible people who we have worked with at OpenAI, our customers, our investors, and all of those who have been reaching out. We too are still trying to figure out exactly...
Jon Victor / The Information:
Sources: three senior OpenAI researchers resign, including Director of Research Jakub Pachocki, and Head of Preparedness Aleksander Madry  —  Three senior researchers at OpenAI resigned Friday night as the artificial intelligence developer suffered fallout from the firing of CEO Sam Altman …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
OpenAI co-founder and President Greg Brockman says he has quit the company “based on today's news”  —  Sam Altman isn't the only major OpenAI executive leaving the company on Friday.  Hours after Altman was fired, with the board saying it “no longer has confidence in his ability …
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher:
Sources: Sam Altman's exit followed a “misalignment” between OpenAI's profit and nonprofit sides, given the company's development speed could be viewed as risky  —  Scoop: There are about to be a lot more major departures of top folks at @OpenAI tonight and I assume Altman will make a statement tonight. But, as I understand it, it was a “misalignment” of the profit versus nonprofit adherents at the company. The developer day was an issue.
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Source: Ilya Sutskever defended Altman's ouster at an all-hands meeting, saying it was necessary to protect OpenAI's mission of making AI beneficial to humanity  —  Everything seemed to be going his way.  Then his time at OpenAI was over.  —  All over Silicon Valley …
Bloomberg:
Source: Ilya Sutskever and his allies on the OpenAI board may have been put off by Sam Altman looking to raise funds for new companies off of OpenAI's name  —  - Safety and commercialization were central to disagreements  — Microsoft CEO was ‘blindsided,’ furious at Altman's firing
Ina Fried / Axios:
Source: Microsoft learned that OpenAI was ousting CEO Sam Altman just a minute before the news was published  —  Microsoft, which has invested billions in OpenAI, learned that OpenAI was ousting CEO Sam Altman just a minute before the news was shared with the world, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Official Microsoft Blog:
Forbes:
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Nothing pulls its Sunbird-based iMessage app Nothing Chats from Play Store after a researcher found the app is not e2e encrypted, attachments are public, more  —  Sunbird has been promising iMessage support on Android for about a year now, but the company has always seemed rather sketchy.
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, Lionsgate, and Comcast suspend ads on X, joining other media and tech companies  —  - Apple has paused its online advertising campaigns on X, formerly Twitter, after owner Elon Musk made antisemitic comments on the platform.
Ina Fried / Axios:

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
The central nervous system of your business  —  Used by 80% of Fortune 100 companies, Airtable combines AI with the scale of an infinitely flexible, no-code system.  With all your data in one place, it's like mission control for your company.
Intel:
5G's most deployed platform  —  Powering live networks with built-in Inference across Core and RAN.  That's the power of Intel Inside®
Zoho:
Keep your business moving with delegated signing in Zoho Sign  —  Contracts piling up while you're traveling or stuck in back-to-back meetings?  With Zoho Sign's delegated signing feature, those delays will be a thing of the past.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Access:
Meet Starboy, the alien toy that hates being called AI
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Hard Fork:
A.I. Goes to War + Is 'A.I. Brain Fry' Real? + How Grammarly Stole Casey's Identity
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Great Chat:
What comes after the Girl Boss?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Lenny's Podcast:
How I built a 1M+ subscriber newsletter and top 10 tech podcast | Lenny Rachitsky
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Everybody Goes Home: How technology is helping prevent wildfires from spreading
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Synthesia's Victor Riparbelli: Using AI To Replace Boring PowerPoints With Interactive Video
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:50 PM ET, November 18, 2023.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Martin Coulter / Reuters: